Death's Doorstep
by RedKnightV13
Summary: For nearly all his life, Ares, a young Paladin Warrior, has lived his life on death's doorstep. But one day, when he is forced to return to his homeland of Bastok, he must go through the door of death to save himself, as well as Vanadiel.
1. Escape to Bastok

Hello! Sein here! Starting a new book now and I hope you all enjoy it!

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As the young hume man walked swiftly through San d'Oria, many people stared. He was a short hume with blonde hair and dark brown eyes that were almost black. He wore a plain black travelers cloak and underneath wore a dark black tunic, his chest covered by black armor. He had on a gigantic great sword, its blade a dark blue, lashed to his back. At first glance, most would think he was a Dark Knight, but on closer inspection, you could see him for what he really was. He was a Paladin. You could tell by the hard but kindly glint in his eyes. As the young hume walked slowly along, he was suddenly rammed in the side by a little Tarutaru.

The little Tarutaru bard/white mage was even small for his kind, but his plump body made up for that. He wore a blue traveler's cloak, blue robes, and a pointy blue hat. His boots were blue too, as well as his gloves. At first glance, you'd guess him a large blueberry. The little Tarutaru looked up and a wide grin appeared on his face. "Hullo, hullo!" he exclaimed, standing up and dusting off his trousers. "How nice to see you at a time like this, Ares, my dear friend. Hey, have I told you how much I respect you? You know, I really..." "What'd you do this time, Riki?" the hume interrupted, crossing his arms. Riki smiled and held up his hands. "What'd you mean? I don't want anything!"

Suddenly a large group of men came charging toward them, shouting and pointing at Riki, calling him a thief. Riki's face paled and he scrambled behind Ares, holding tightly to his leg. The men came to a stop before Ares, seeing his face as well as his giant sword. "Sir, that little Tarutaru behind you has taken some of our money," the lead man said, "and we want it back!"

Ares shrugged. "You want him," he said, taking the Tarutaru by the back of his collar and holding him out to the men. "Take him." Riki gasped and kicked the air, trying to shake out of Ares' grasp, but he hume held firm. The lead man reached forward to grab the little Taru but Ares quickly pulled him away. "You want him... take him... if you can."

The men shouted and drew their weapons. The lead man, snarling angrily, yanked his long sword from its sheath at his side and held it up threateningly. "Boy... if you don't give that imp to me I swear I'll..."

"You'll what?" Ares interrupted. "Kill me? How can you do that without a weapon?"

The men looked confused for a moment, but soon shook off the comment and at the lead man's signal charged forward at Ares, Riki standing beside him. There was a quick flash and a black blur swung downward before the lead man. When the lead man looked up, his sword had been sliced in two. Ares held his sword in his right hand nonchalantly, waiting for something. He grinned brightly when it happened. The group of men dashed away and disappeared in moments.

Ares swung the sword around a few times and sheathed it on his back in one fluid movement. He then turned on his heel and glared down at Riki. "Why do you always have to do this kind of thing? It always turns out in us fleeing from the city! Now we'll have to move to Bastok," he said with a defeated sigh.

Riki looked up at Ares with an even more confused expression. "Why don't you likey-wikey Bastok? You were borny-worny there, weren't you?" he asked.

Ares nodded and brusquely walked away. "That's why I don't like it," he muttered under his breath as he walked swiftly away.

As the hume continued to walk, Riki following close behind, he looked about him to make sure they weren't being followed. When he saw that nobody was looking at them, Ares snatched Riki up by the head and disappeared into an alleyway, then, still not letting go of the pint-sized Taru, he dashed as fast as he could go down the back roads until he reached the gates, at which point he sprinted through into Ronfaure.

Riki, having now been dropped to the floor, hurried to keep up with the hume's long strides. "Why are we running?" he called out to the Paladin. Ares didn't answer but rather kept on going until he reached La Theine Plateau, and even then, after a three minute break, continued to run as fast as he could across the land. Riki sand every energy giving song he knew just so that he could keep up with the hume.

Ares never ceased his running past then until he and the Tarutaru had safely reached Gustaberg, where he led his companion to the top of a large rock formation, underneath a small ridge facing away from their previous road, hiding in silence. When Riki tried to stand up, he quickly grabbed the Tarutaru, covering its mouth with his hand, and pressed up as close as he could get to the wall. It was nighttime and one could hardly see five feet in front of him.

There came a sound from behind the rocks, a strange sound, almost like some strange animal sniffing the air. He had chosen wisely to hide himself beneath the rocks, for when he look up, he saw a great metal hand clamp down on the edge of it. The strange noises continued and Ares saw that whatever the thing that was there was, was about to climb down. He quickly snatched a large rock and chucked it as hard as he could off to the right. It hit the earth below with a resounding crack and whatever was once above them, vanished in the direction of the noise.

Ares quickly scrambled to his feet, snatching up his companion by the head again, and dashed away toward Bastok. He leapt into the air and landed halfway down the rocky hill, then slid the rest of the way until he reached the floor. As stealthily as he could, his giant sword hindering him, Ares made his way across the open land and to the gate of west gate of Bastok. He silently acknowledged the guard, who, at the sight of Ares, gaped in surprise and awe, and ran on by.

As the two finally made it through the gate, Ares dropped Riki and leaned against the wall in the corner of the Bastok Markets, beside the glowing pylon that stood as a checkpoint to transport the adventurer back if he was incapacitated, breathing heavily. As he looked up, paying to heed to Riki's angered comments and spiteful glares, and sighed deeply. _I'm home._


	2. Painful Reunion

Hello again! Thx for the review! Now on with the story!

When Ares woke up, he was still lying in the corner near the checkpoint and the sun was just creeping up over the buildings. As soon as the streets were lighted, Bastok would burst with life and be all hustle and bustle enough for anyone. Ares stood and rubbed his eyes, then looked down at his tiny companion.

Riki lay with his eyes closed tight and his body sprawled out across the floor like a rag doll. Ares couldn't help but laugh and then, carrying the still sleeping Tarutaru slung over his shoulder, began to walk through the barren street, heading nowhere in particular. He just wanted to leave the gate. He was still confused about that strange thing that had followed he and Riki all the way from San d'Oria to Bastok and still keeping pace with them. It was not normal for a bounty hunter of any sort Ares knew to be so resilient. He shrugged the thought away apathetically.

Just as Ares made it to the auction house, the people of Bastok began to flood into the streets. Ares sat on the stairs and placed the little Taru on his shoulder down beside him, out of the way of the Bastokans and allowed him to sleep for a little while longer. He dare not stay too long though, for he had a strange feeling that something both good and bad was going to happen. Which would overweight which, he could not decide. Whether the bad overweighs the good or the good overweighs the bad, he did not know, but greatly hoped for the latter of the two.

Finally, after another half-hour or so, Riki awoke. The two then immediately set out for the residential area to rent a mog house. When they arrived there, Ares walked by the residential area guard and headed straight for his mog house, Riki following close behind. Ares entered his room and dropped down on the bed. Riki curled up on the little pillow that Ares threw to him, since it was about as long as him. The two rested for a little while longer, then got back up and left the room, giving all of their items and things, except their weapons, to the moogle. But just before they walked out the door, the moogle called to Ares. "Master, kupo! You have received mail!"

Ares turned around and took the mail from the moogle's outstretched paw. He opened it and read the message. It was only one line. It read: Meet me at the west gate in five minutes. There was no signature. Ares folded up the letter, thanked his moogle for giving it to him, and then left promptly. He was very cautious as he walked down the road toward the west gate. He was worried that the strange armored creature that had followed him was the one that sent the message, but he could not be sure. Besides, he doubted that even a heartless beast would have the sense not to kill a man in the middle of an extremely busy street. But he was still cautious, and the presence of his pint-sized friend gave him no reassurance.

"So, what was the letter about?" asked Riki. He was still rather tired and his eyelids dropped low, giving him limited vision, but enough to see what was going on around him.

Suddenly, a fist came out of nowhere and slammed Ares right in the nose. Ares stumbled back, cursing loudly. "What the vuck?!" he exclaimed, holding his hand to his nose, which was bleeding profusely. Everyone on the road turned their heads to see the scene.

Ares looked up to see a young woman, no older than he, standing before him, glaring at him. She had long black hair that reached down to the middle of her back and wore a vest and pants, a long bow strapped to her back.

"Kiana?!" Ares staggered back as the girl prowled forward, her hands on her hips. "Where have you been?!" the young woman shouted, calling the attention of even the storeowners, who came out to see what all the commotion was about. "I've been waiting here for almost a year now and you haven't sent a single message! I was so worried! I thought you might have died! I thought you actually cared about me! I guess the fact that we've been friends ever since we were born doesn't matter to you!"

"Kiana! Keep it down!" Ares said, glancing nervously at all the people watching.

"Don't tell me what to do!" she shouted, then turned away, sobbing.

Ares groaned. He hated seeing girls cry. It just bothered him a lot, and this was even worse seeing as the girl who was crying was his long time friend. He stepped forward, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder and squeezing lightly. "Kiana! Please stop crying!" The girl continued to sob. Ares came around to stand in front of her and lifted her head to see her face. She looked away when he did; closing her eyes to try and hold back more tears. Ares, thinking quickly, decided to try changing the subject.

"Hey! I got an idea! Let's go and adventure together! Doesn't that sound fun?" he asked.

Kiana looked over at him, her eyes puffy and red. She seemed doubtful at first, but then began to smile. "OK. I guess so."

Ares smiled and patted her back. "Good to hear it. But how about we get something to eat first? I'm starved!"

"Me too!" Riki exclaimed, popping up suddenly at their feet. He smiled and waved to Kiana, his tall blue hat falling over his eyes.

Kiana laughed and kneeled down, patting the Tarutaru's little head. "Hi, Riki! How are you? Have you been keeping Ares out of trouble?" she asked.

Riki nodded and Ares snorted, crossing his arms. "Yea, right! Just yesterday I saved him from a bunch of Elvaan dealers back in San d'Oria. I've been the one keeping him out of trouble!"

Kiana stood and turned to Ares angrily. "Look, I'm mad enough as it is! Now don't go making this any worse by lying to me! Riki would never do anything as low as make a bet with a bunch of bad guys!" she said, aging her finger in front of Ares' face. Then she turned and walked away, pulling Riki along with her.

Ares sighed deeply and followed, promising himself that he'd kill the little Taru as soon as he got the chance.


	3. Breakfast Revalations

_**I'M BACK!**_

Ares, Riki, and Kiana sat together in a small restaurant, eating and talking… well; at least Riki and Kiana were talking. The whole time Ares just glared at the little Taru sitting across from him. After a while, Kiana finally turned to him, noticing his cold glare. "What's wrong with you?" she asked. Ares grunted in response, but Kiana pressed the question. Finally, he gave in and answered.

"Like I said before, I haven't been the one to be kept out of trouble. This little midget man here got in some trouble for not paying off a lost bet and ended up running back to me like we did in the other countries." He turned to regard the Taru. "Remember Windurst, when you tried to get away with that gemstone you stole from those Mithra burglars? I had to fend off three _very_ volatile cats while you were hiding in a corner."

Riki attempted to stammer out an explanation or denial of the statement, but Ares continued before you could say anything. "And Jeuno? Remember the Galkan guard you tried to trick out of 10,000 gil?" Riki began sweating then, pulling on the collar of his shirt, again attempting to talk his way through it. Ares persisted though, going on to say, "And what about Norg?" Riki paled. "Yes… I seem to remember being pursued for a full month after that incident with that bet you made that I could slay twenty Gigas at once. Of course, I didn't agree with it and never attempted the feat, so the whole gang was after us until we finally made our way back to San d'Oria. I was nearly killed five times because of you!"

Kiana stared blankly at the little Taru. Riki, sweating profusely now, stopped his attempts at any form of sentence structure and simply hid himself under his wide brimmed hat. After a few minutes, Kiana finally broke the silence, laughing hard and long. Ares stared at her in amazement while Riki began praying to Altana, praising her in every way he knew for sparing him. "You're such a terrible liar Ares!" Kiana said after a while of laughing. Ares was dumbfounded. "I wasn't lying! It's the truth!" Kiana continued to laugh hysterically. "Yea, right! Like Riki's even capable of such terrible things! You know better than any that he's too innocent to do that!" Ares flashed a furious glare at the Taru again, promising terrible pain when they were alone. Riki just silently danced in his chair, mocking him.

"Alright, I think we've spent enough time eating. Let's go hunting now! I haven't had a good adventure in a long time!" Kiana said, jumping up from her chair and yanking Ares out of his and grabbing Riki's shoulder as she came by, pulling the two out of the restaurant and away toward the town gate.

Sorry I've been so long, but I've had a few things to do in my life aside from FanFiction. Also, I'm sorry this is so short but I'll add more later.


	4. You believe me now?

Thanks for the review!

Ares, Riki, finally released from Kiana's hold, composed themselves and looked around to find them standing before the Bastok Mines Chocobo Stables. Kiana walked right in and Ares and Riki came in behind her, Ares catching her by the shoulder and stopping her in her tracks. "Where are we going?" he asked, turning the young Ranger to face him. "Why, Jeuno of course! Then on to Qufim! I'd like to try hunting some Gigas, haven't done that in a while!" She said, pulling out of his grip to talk to the lady standing before one of the Chocobos. Ares just shrugged and followed after her, Riki hopping up on his shoulder. "Jeuno'll be fun!" he squeaked, grinning wide. Ares flicked him off his shoulder, saying, "Let's just hope your enemies there have forgotten you by now, though I doubt they have." Riki paled at the thought, but shook it off and stood up.

"Hey, Ares, Kiana-Wana, wait up a minute, ok?" he called, running out the door. Ares and Kiana watched him go, and then turned back to the lady. "Let's just leave him," Ares offered, earning him a strong fist to the back of the head. "Ares! How could you say that? He's our friend!" Kiana shouted, glaring at him. Ares just sighed and shrugged

Riki headed for the auction house, intending to buy a few potions, but suddenly ran into a pair of Galka blocking his path. He looked up at the two imposing creatures and squealed in surprise and fear. "Hey! Where's that ten thousand gil you owe us, eh?" one of the barked, reaching for the Taru. Riki jumped up and ran back to the stables, blasting past his two surprised Hume friends and hopping on a small chocobo. "Let's go!" he shouted, tossing some gil to the lady and kicking his chocobo into high gear. Ares and Kiana stared at each other, then saw the Galka burst through the doors behind them. "There he is!" one shouted, pointing at the retreating Taru. Ares, being right by the door at that moment, decked him in the face, laying him low, then grabbed Kiana's arm quickly and sprinted for the two waiting chocobos. "You believe me now?" Ares shouted as the two rode away after their Taru friend, away from the two pursuing Galka.


End file.
